“My God!” you whisper as you stare at the mirror. “What is it?” asks the wife, looking up in alarm, “You look pale, come we need to take you to the hospital, you’re getting paler. Doctor! Doctor, my husband is turning white. Yes, please send an ambulance, I think he’s…
Why Broaden Our Roads?
“He, he, he,” giggled the slim and slender road as she shifted from side to side, “somebody’s tickling me.” “They’re digging on either side of you,” I said, “they’re broadening you.” “Oh my, oh my is that what they’re doing,” cried the road in sudden despair, “why ever would anyone…
Our Guestrooms..!
“I hope I’m not going to put you and your family to any inconvenience,” I tell my friend as I enter his house. “No problems,” for any of us, “We have a guestroom waiting for you!” I shudder when I hear those words. I’ve never been particularly lucky with guestrooms,…
The Swimming Pool and Ache Din..!
The joyous shouts from the private swimming pool outside, the thought of a scrumptious breakfast soon, the sight of my two beloved daughters and their husbands, and hot coffee brought to my little cottage by my wife, all gladden my heart. Then I stare at the bathroom, with its beautiful…
Walking with Pebbles in Our Shoes..!
“Dad,” said my daughter one day, “Isn’t it Central Park that you’ve always loved?” I was quiet, because though I loved the park and all the fall colours I was sure it offered, I still knew that it was a bit of a more tedious walk than the river park…
Please Father, Take Me Back..!
Yesterday was Father’s Day, which made me remember a story I told prisoners in a jail about another father. It so happened that a team invited me to visit a prison in Mumbai. What I saw that day in that prison was a sense of sadness. I had expected tough…
The Snob..!
“My grandfather!” says a Christian snob, “Was a Brahmin before he converted!” “Yes, it’s the second time, you’ve told me that!” I tell him pleasantly. “We even told our daughter this, so she can be proud of her heritage!” says his wife to me. “You should add that after your…
Give a Giraffe Kick..!
It was as the forty plus politician, the beginnings of grey stubble on his cheek, looking down and despondent, walked away from the hospital, where his mother, suffering from post covid complications lay, that he saw the old sage outside, “You look down in the dumps!” said the kindly old…
Hiding My Marksheet..!
This morning’s paper had me dumbfounded; most students who had passed their exams had scored over ninety percent. I called home immediately: “Lock my cupboard and hide the keys!” “Why?” asked the wife, “something you want to hide from me?” “Just lock it!” She didn’t. The cupboard was open and…
Running Scared from Room to Room..!
The twins, and their mother, my daughter and her husband are down from New York and my otherwise quiet house is full of childlike laughter. But suddenly there is a still, and I get up worriedly from my writing to find the cause of this unearthly silence and then my…
Robert Clements is a newspaper columnist and writes a daily column, which has graced the pages of over 60 newspapers and magazines, from a daily column in the Khaleej Times, Dubai, the Morning Star, London, and in nearly every state in India, from The Statesman in Kolkata, to the Kashmir Times in Kashmir to the Trinity Mirror in Chennai.